The SEC, The Eye Test and Chad Bumphis

Chad Bumphis led the SEC in touchdowns last season, with 12. Given that Bumphis doesn’t have an ADP, it seems useful to point that out the list of players that have led the SEC in touchdowns over the last decade: Jarius Wright, A.J Green (Tied with Alshon Jeffrey, Denarious Moore and Chad Mathews after only playing 9 games due to a suspension), Brand Lafell, A.J Green (again tied with Lafell, Shay Hodge and Mohammed Massaqoui), Stevie Johnson, Dwayne Bowe (tied with Keenan Burton), Sidney Rice, Troy Williamson (tied with Ben Obomanu and Fred Gibson, and Devrey Henderson.

Pretty impressive list. Green and Bowe have both finished in the top 5 of WR fantasy scoring, Rice and Stevie Johnson inside the top 10. While I wouldn’t call it a strict correlation, I would say that leading the SEC in touchdowns is probably an indicator of potential NFL ability. The brilliant Jon Moore rang the cowbell on Bumphis as a sleeper and all of the pertinent metric discussion is available in this article. Jon also conducted an analysis of Deandre Hopkins’ SEC production and came to the conclusion that SEC production matters to eventual NFL production.

We know Bumphis is a sleeper and we know that he is in some potentially elite company, so the purpose of this piece isn’t to analyze the Dolphin’s offense or why Bumphis was off the radar. Rather, it’s a simple thought experiment. Here are scouting videos (and highlight films, where that’s all that was available) of 4 SEC wide receivers held in high regard plus Hopkins…and Champ Bumphis. I certainly don’t believe in the ‘Eye Test’ as the end all, be all of talent evaluation but there are those who need to see something on the field before they believe. So, does Bumphis pass the eye test?